Thoughts on the U.S. Government

Is It Too Difficult to Amend the U.S. Constitution?

When it comes to amending the Constitution, it’s not an easy task. In fact, it was designed to be difficult to prevent rash decisions. Negative historical events like the Stamp Act of 1765, the Boston Massacre in 1770, and taxation without representation in the 1700s provided a learning experience for the framers. It encouraged them to create an entirely different government that guaranteed unprecedented laws could never happen. Unknowingly, in their desire to give more power to the people, the framers designed a weak government beginning with the Articles of Confederation in 1777. After a series of disastrous events like Shay’s Rebellion in 1786, the framers realized the government needed more control. During the First Constitutional Convention in 1787, they attempted to amend the Articles of Confederation. After an unsuccessful attempt, the group met again during the Second Constitutional Convention and prepared a new document with a balanced government. It took a lot of time and arguing to design the Constitution, and even longer to get enough states to ratify it. The document was short and vague but needed to be in order to appeal to everyone. 

The Constitution established a separation of powers to ensure that no rash decisions could be made by a single person. Unfortunately, the flawed design resulted in the possibility of nodecisions being made without the required number of votes to approve changes. 

I believe the framers should not have made it so difficult to amend the Constitution. It was written as if they thought the document was without flaw and no one besides them was wise enough to approve major changes. They did not think far enough into the future to create an expandable document with a timely amendment process. 

Had the framers made amending the Constitution easier, we may have passed a hundred amendments by now resulting in a more balanced government where every issue was tackled in a much shorter amount of time. We could have also made many poor decisions that would have set us back.

There is progress, but still much work to be done. Important issues like abortion rights, gun control, and civil rights are hot topics now that should be amended in the Constitution; however, if approved, the process would be lengthy.

Has the American President Become Too Powerful?

In the beginning, the goal of the framers was to make sure no one person had too much power. If anything, they intended for Congress to have more power than the president. Their logic was that a group of people were less likely to become tyrannical than one person. The Executive branch has evolved over the years as many presidents have come and gone, making history in their wake. From Abraham Lincoln with the Emancipation Proclamation to Barack Obama with immigration laws, presidents have pushed their agendas after unsuccessful attempts to reason with Congress in a timely manner. The Legislative and Executive branches have been butting heads for a long time. Many argue that presidents have gone way too far with executive orders and other means of bypassing Congress, while others suggest that they haven’t done enough to challenge Congress. Waiting on several people to understand your point of view can be very frustrating. The president’s frustration with Congress is perfectly understandable. You have one person with strong views on making change and trying to implement changes, and then you have a group of people that can’t decide on anything in enough time, so they disagree with your every move. 

I understand that it’s easier to focus on one person, but people are misinformed when they place all the blame on the president. They don’t realize the three-branch system that works together. They especially don’t realize that there are problems with Congress as well as the presidency. Nobody and nothing is perfect.

As far as the president being too powerful, I disagree. I believe Congress still has a rein on the president and is in no serious danger of losing control. Congress is still making and adjusting laws and keeping an eye on the president. Congress does get a little nervous every now and then when a new president comes in swinging, but they still have enough power to keep him in check. Had the president become too powerful, the country would be in much worse shape than it is right now. Congress might be getting a little overwhelmed with a president issuing executive orders left and right, but they are tackling all of them. I believe there are still strong enough laws that keep a president from becoming too powerful. As the presidency grows, so too does Congress.